The impetuous lord of populous Asia is driving his wondrous warrior-flock against the whole earth in twofold armament, on foot and by sea, resting his confidence in his stalwart and stern commanders; he himself, the peer of the gods, a hero whose race in sprung from gold. (65-80)
Chorus – …my heart is shrouded in gloom and is racked with fear (woe!) for our Persian armament, lest the State learn that the mighty capital of the Susian land is made desolate of its sons,
And lest, as bands of women cry aloud “woe,” the Cissian stronghold raise a re-echoing shout responsive to the thud of hands on breast, and rending fall upon their vesture of fine linen. (115-125)
[Enter Atossa, gorgeously apparelled, on a chariot and attended by a numerous retinue]
Chorus – But lo! Here comes forth an effulgence like unto the eyes of the gods – the Mother of our King, my Queen. To her I make lowly obeisance. Meet is it also that we all address her in words of salutation.
[The Elders prostrate themselves and then rise to their feet…]
O Queen, most exalted of Persia’s deep-girdled dames, venerable mother of Xerxes, spouse of Darius, all hail! Consort wast thou of the Persians’ god, and mother art thou likewise of a god, unless perchance its ancient fortune hath now forsaken our host. (150-158)
Atossa – I dreamed that two women in fair vesture, one apparelled in Persian garb, the in Dorian attire, appeared before mine eyes; both in stature far more striking than are the women of our time, in beauty flawless, sisters of the self-same race. As for the country wherein they dwelt, to one had been assigned by lot the land of Hellas, to the other that of the barbarians. The twain, to my fancy, seemed to provoke each other to a mutual feud; and my son, made aware of this, strove to restrain and soothe them, and yoked them both to his car and placed the collar-straps upon their necks. The one bore herself proudly in these trappings and kept her mouth obedient to the rein. The other struggled and with her hands rent asunder the harness of the car; then, free of the curb, dragged it violently along with her and snapped the yoke asunder. My son was hurled to the ground and his father Darius stood by his side compassionating him. But Xerxes, when he beheld him, rent his garments about his limbs. (181-209)
Messenger – O ye cities of all the land of Asia, O realm of Persia, and bounteous haven of wealth, how at a single stroke has all your plenteous weal been shattered, and the flower of the Persians fallen and perished! Woe’s me – it is an evil office to be the first to herald ill. And yet, ye Persians, I needs must unfold the whole disaster – the whole barbarian host is lost. (249-255)
Messenger – Full of the bodies of men who perished by a wretched fate are theshores of Salamis and all the neighbouring coasts.
Chorus – Alack, alack! Thou tallest that the bodies of our loved ones, battered by thebrine, are tossing, oft submerged and lifeless, hither and thither in theirmantles. (272-277)
Messenger – …Atembares, commander of ten thousand horse, is dashing now against Silenia’s cruel shore. And Dadaces, leader of a thousand men, leaped, spear-smitten, with nimble bound, from his ship. Tenagon, the Bactrian’s chieftain of the true old stock, is ranging now around the surf-beaten isle ofAjax. Lilaeus and Arsames, and, third, Argestes, kept buffeting against itsrugged strand, whirled round about the isle, the breeding-place of doves. Arcteus, too, who dwelt hard by the waters of the Egyptian Nile, Adeues, and third Pharnuchus of the mighty shield – all these were hurled from out one ship. Matallus of Chrysa, commander of ten thousand, leader of the Black Horse thirty thousand strong, in death dyed red his thick and shaggy beard, changing its colour with a deep purple stain.
Arabus, too, the Magian, perished there, and Bactrian Artabes, a settler now in a rugged land. Amistris, and Amphistreus, wielder of his toilsome spear, and brave Ariomardus, whose death brought grief to Sardis, and Seisames the Mysian, and Tharybis, admiral of five times fifty ships, a Lyrnaean by descent, a comely man, lies dead all wretched in uncomeliness. Syennis, also, the governor of the Cilicians, foremost in courage, he whose single prowess wrought the foe most harm, found there a glorious death. Such were the leaders touching whom I have now made report. Sore as were our losses, yet I announce but few. (302-330)
Messenger – Think’st thou we were outnumbered in this contest? No, it was some power divine that swayed down the scale of fortune with unequal weight and thus destroyed our host. The gods preserve the city of the goddess Pallas. (344-7)
Messenger – Xerxes groaned aloud when he beheld the depth of the disaster; for he occupied a seat commanding a clear view of all the armament – a lofty eminence hard by the open sea. Rending his robes and uttering a loud wail, he forthwith gave orders to his force on land and dismissed them in disorderly flight. (465-470)
Atossa – This lesson impetuous Xerxes learned by converse with the vile. For they kept ever telling him that, whereas thou by thy spear didst win plenteous treasure for thy children, he, on his part, through lack of spirit, played the warrior at home and made no enlargement of his father’s wealth. Hearing such taunts many a time and oft from evil counsellors he planned this expedition and armament against Hellas. (753-8)
Darius – They are now tarrying where the plain is watered by the stream of Asopus that gives kindly enrichment to Boeotia’s fields. Here it awaits them to suffer their crowning disaster in requital for their presumptuous [hubreus] pride and impious thoughts. For, on reaching the land of Hellas, restrained by no religious awe, they ravaged the images of the gods and gave their temples to the flames. Altars have been destroyed, statues of the gods have been overthrown from their bases in utter ruin and confusion. Wherefore having evil wrought, evil they suffer in no less measure; and other evils are still in store: not yet has their woe reached its bottom, but it still wells forth. For so great shall be the mass of clotted gore spilled by the Dorian lance upon Plataean soil that heaps of dead shall make known, even to the third generation, a voiceless record for the eyes of men that mortal man needs must not vaunt him overmuch. For presumptuous [hubris] pride, when it has burgeoned, bears as its fruit a crop of calamity, whence it reaps a plenteous harvest of tears. (805-822)
Chorus – For now in truth the whole land of Asia, dispeopled, maketh moan: Xerxes led forth (woe!), Xerxes laid low (woe!), Xerxes disposed all things imprudently with his sea-faring barques. Why then was Darius in his time, leader beloved to the men of Susa, so scatheless a lord of the bow unto his people?
For landsmen and seamen both, the ships, dark-eyed and linen-winged, led forth (woe!), the ships laid low (woe!), the ships, under the deadly impact of the foe and by the hands of Ionians. The King himself, as we learn, hath barely made his escape over the wintry ways that traverse the plains of Thrace.
And they who were first to meet their doom (alas!), left behind perforce (alas!), are swept along about the Cychrean strand (woe!). Groan and gnash your teeth; in grievous strain shout forth our woes till they reach the heavens (alas!), raise high your wailing clamour in cries of misery.
Lacerated by the swirling waters (alas!) they are gnawed (alas!) by the voiceless children of the stainless sea (alas!). The home, bereaved of his presence, lamenteth its head; and parents, reft of their children, in their old age bewail their heaven-sent woes (alas!), now that they learn the full measure of their afflictions. (548-583)
Xerxes – Beat thy breast too, and raise the Mysian wail.
Chorus – [hayii! hayiia!] Anguish, anguish!
Xerxes – And tear, I pray thee, the white hair from out thy beard.
Chorus – With clenched nails, with clenched nails, with loud wailing.
Xerxes – And utter shrill cries.
Chorus – This too I will do.
Xerxes – And with thy fingers rend the robe that drapes thee.
Chorus – [hayii! hayiia!] Anguish, anguish!
Xerxes – And pluck out thy locks and lament our host.
Chorus – With clenched nails, with clenched nails, with loud wailing.
Xerxes – Let tears moisten thine eyes.
Chorus – I am steeped in tears.
Xerxes – Cry now aloud in response to me.
Chorus – [Oioi! Oioi!] Alas, alas!
Xerxes – With sounds of wailing wend ye to your homes.
Chorus – [Ieow! Ieow!] Alas, alas!
Xerxes – Alas! Through the city.
Chorus – Alas, indeed! Yea, yea.
Xerxes – Pour forth your wail as ye move on with dainty steps.
Chorus – Alas, alas, O Persian land, grievous now to tread!
Xerxes – Ah me! Those that perished in three-tiered galleys, ah me!
Chorus – I will escort thee with dismal sounds of woe. (1054-1076)
Some notable critical positions on the play...
“The purpose of the play was the gratification of the natural pride of the Athenians in their achievement, and the presentation of the victory of Salamis as the focal moment in the defeat of Persia and the establishment of Greek liberty. That victory was undoubtedly of first importance and made everything else possible; and it was due almost entirely to the united courage and resolution of the Athenian people.” [Philip Vellacott, intro., Prometheus Bound and Other Plays, Aeschylus, Penguin Classics (London: Penguin, 1961) 17.]
"If we ask ourselves the right questions about the form of the play we shall be led, I think, straight to the conclusion that he did not set out to compose, for the stage, a piece in celebration of Salamis and Platea - a theme which might have made good epic - but to create drama, and nothing but drama, on the theme of [hubris] and its inevitable punishment. What patriotic celebration there is - and there is obviously some - is incidental." [H. D. F. Kitto, Greek Tragedy(London: Metheun, 1939, 1978) 36.]
“The deliverance from Persia was felt … to be something miraculous, superhuman; a thing to make a man kneel and pray rather than boast. [He quotes Herodotus] ‘It is not we who have done this,’ exclaimed Themistocles, the chief engineer of the victory, after his crowning success. It was the gods and heroes striking down the pride and impiety of man. (Herodotus VIII. 109.)” [Gilbert Murray, pref., The Persians, Aeschylus (London: Allen & Unwin, 1939) 7.]
"If we ask ourselves the right questions about the form of the play we shall be led, I think, straight to the conclusion that he did not set out to compose, for the stage, a piece in celebration of Salamis and Platea - a theme which might have made good epic - but to create drama, and nothing but drama, on the theme of [hubris] and its inevitable punishment. What patriotic celebration there is - and there is obviously some - is incidental." [H. D. F. Kitto, Greek Tragedy(London: Metheun, 1939, 1978) 36.]
“The deliverance from Persia was felt … to be something miraculous, superhuman; a thing to make a man kneel and pray rather than boast. [He quotes Herodotus] ‘It is not we who have done this,’ exclaimed Themistocles, the chief engineer of the victory, after his crowning success. It was the gods and heroes striking down the pride and impiety of man. (Herodotus VIII. 109.)” [Gilbert Murray, pref., The Persians, Aeschylus (London: Allen & Unwin, 1939) 7.]
Some useful journal articles
R. P. Winnington-Ingram, 'Zeus in the Persae,' The Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. 93 (1973), 210-219.
Attilio Favorini, 'History, Collective Memory, and Aeschylus' The Persians,' Theatre Journal, vol. 55, no. 1 (Mar., 2003), 99-111.
Laura McClure, 'Maternal Authority and Heroic Disgrace in Aeschylus's Persae,' Transactions of the American Philological Association, vol. 136 (Spring 2006), 71-97.
Ippokratis Kantzios, 'The Politics of Fear in Aeschylus' Persians,' The Classical World, vol. 98, No. 1 (Autumn, 2004), 3-19.
